Travel insights, musical revelations, the weird and wonderful.

May 30, 2017June 26, 2017

Mezcal Prose/5 Facts About Mexico

AGAVE

When I planned this article, I wanted to incorporate a mezcal-fueled rambling. I have two reasons for this. Firstly, I am incredibly and romantically inclined to mezcal. I regard it as the finest drink in the world. If you are not familiar with it, it is essentially a smoked tequila. The traditions of roasting agave goes back to Aztec time. It is one of our connections to the old and mysterious. As someone who moved from the deciduous beaches of Long Island to the Sonoran Desert, I take absolute joy in Southwestern refinements.

Secondly, I’m heavily influenced by the Beat generation. Beat writers like Kerouac and Burroughs draw heavily on improvisation and streams of consciousness. They also thought Mexico was something spectacular. If you haven’t checked out Mexico City Blues, do yourself a favor and read it without distraction.

Here it is, a mezcal prose ramble…

The lattice of the sea holds in itself a miraculous geometry. Dilapidated shelves that are landmasses lie underneath the sea. They bring about the prehistoric silence that precedes the pachucos and pencil skirts above them. Love is an absolution that cannot be sequestered. I hold in my hands a dialectic prose that can inspire millions within this generation. Martyrs and Magrittes hold apples that may never be understood, a biological vessel into sin and obstruction. Decades of discovery lead to this: words on a page from a student of poets and sages. I value mystery as much as I embrace confusion. The convergence of thought and miracle, a gazing upon the hazy skies. My beautiful woman looks at me as I throw my passions upon her. I make sure she feels the delight and excitement that I have been blessed with from years of wisdom and heartfelt sorrow.

By the time he had won the Nobel Prize in literature, he was considered a giant. He was equally at ease discussing T. S. Eliot and Buddhism, the Aztec Empire, Japanese haiku, the balkanization of the former USSR, and the tortuous modernity of Latin America. In an era of obnoxious specialists who know more about less, his cosmopolitanism, his capacious eye, made him a rara avis.

“The Labrynth of Solitude” is a notable work that consists of Paz’s meditations on the identity of Mexico. It is a great combination of prose work and social critique.

#4

Reading this Breitbart article, you’d think that going to Mexico was a suicide mission. They report that 181 Americans died by homicide in Mexico since 2013. Seems like a lot, doesn’t it? And granted, more Americans are murdered in Mexico than any other country. But at the same time, more Americans go to Mexico than any other country.

These deaths are tragic losses, and I send my respects out to the victims’ families. But these are relatively rare cases, given these numbers. Though I like to think I’m courageous, going south of the border is just not as risky as it seems

If you are planning to go to Mexico, do make sure you bring protection for your eyes. If you’re like me, you probably spend under $20 for shades. I found this site that has an awesome selection:

#3

#2

The Mexican banda ensemble often incorporates a sousaphone (tuba relative pictured above), drums, and cymbals. This instrumentation dates back to the 1880’s, when droves of German immigrants were settling in Mexico. They introduced military bands to states including Chihuahua, Jalisco, and Sinoloa.

#1

In 2011 Forbes declared Carlos Slim Helú as the wealthiest person in the world, with his worth estimated at $74 billion USD. He would hold this title the next year after adding over another billion to that figure.

Carlos Slim, a Lebanese-Mexican magnate, owns America Movil, Latin America’s biggest mobile telecom company. Carlos Slim opened Latin America’s largest aquarium in 2014, and to this day, he records all of his financial data by hand.